An In-Depth Overview of OptinMonster: Lead Generation For Your WordPress Site or Online Store

Recently OptinMonster came out with version 4.0. As a long-time fan of this plugin and service, I initially was going to write a post about the new features, but instead, since my last post on it was March of 2014, it was time to do a new post and go a little deeper (okay, a lot deeper) into my take on what I consider to be the best optin plugin for WordPress.

Before I start, a clarification. In my first post I admitted I was not a big fan of popups. Over time I shifted my thoughts based on two factors:

It’s that proven they work.

if done right, they are very effective for lead generation.

In the past, I talked with an email expert on using them for you online store, which was interesting to hear her insights. But, I’m not writing this post to discuss the pros and cons, instead, I’m showing you the true power, control and flexibility you have with OptinMonster.

An Overview of OptinMonster for WordPress

Since this is a SaaS and you use a WordPress plugin to connect your site, you can create and edit any optin either on your account at OptinMonster.com or in your WordPress dashboard. I may be switching back and forth for this post.

Your OptinMonster Campaigns

When you log into your account on their site, you will get an overview of all your campaigns. You will see here that I have a few as I am in the middle of reworking my own and have duplicated some on my demo site. You can see some basic stats and have other actions you can take, as well as a search. The search, now out in 4.0, will help a lot if you have numerous campaigns on various sites.

Here you can see the options you have from your dashboard.

When you are in your WordPress dashboard, this is what your list of optins will look like.

Creating Your Campaign – Easier in 4.0

This next step has so many options that it’s going to be hard to cover each one. But I want to give you a good overview of the control you will have over your options, both in appearance and functionality. So hang in there.

Also note that the workflow for creating a new campaign has been vastly improved in version 4.0. It’s much easier and more intuitive.

Choosing Your Campaign Type and Template

First you will select the type of campaign. There are several types to choose from depending on your needs. For this demo I will choose Lightbox Popup.

Secondly, you have several options to choose your Campaign Template based on your Campaign Type.

We are continuing with the Lightbox Popup, but I will also show you your choices for the Floating Bar, just to give you an idea of the variety. As you are looking at these don’t get bogged down with the colors. You will be able to change those easily later on.

I will be choosing the Case Study template for this demo.

And here are the choices I get for the Floating Bar type.

Next, you will name the campaign so you can identify it.

Optin Setup

Now we get into the nitty gritty. First off you will see the optin on the right. What is great is that they have filled out the template so you just need to add your specifics to it. In the setup settings, you will be able to choose the websites you want this optin to be available for, based on the websites you have added to your account.

Here is where you start seeing the control you have with your campaigns.

The Cooking Duration lets you choose the number of days before the optin will display again once the user has left your campaign.

The Success Cooking Duration allows you to set the days before an optin will display again, once the user successfully opts into your campaign.

In both cases, this is great as you may not want your visitors to see this same optin time and time again, each time they visit. It also lets you control your plans for the optin to change by offering another Case Study, as in this particular campaign.

Optin Customizations

Next, you will have a chance to change the details of your optin, including colors and fonts. Here is a screenshot for the setting for this specific template. What’s useful, although I cannot show you here in the screenshot, is that you can but you see what the changes look like as you make them.

And if you move over to the actual optin, you will be able to make changes there as well. Notice that when I click on the text, I can change it plus I get some editor buttons for bolding, bullets, text color, etc. In addition, I can upload my own image for the image spot.

So with these easy options, and no coding, I was able to do this:

To this:

In addition, in these settings, you have choices for the your popup’s effectwhen it first appears.

Yes/No Settings

The other option you have is the yes/no button instead. If you enable this, you get several options. Also, you can turn on only the yes button if you prefer them closing the popup instead.

What’s cool is you can control the action for each of those two buttons.

By using the Yes/No buttons, my form would look like this.

Optin Success

Here you choose what happens after they opt in. In this example I am displaying a Success Theme, which by default is this simple one.

Or you can choose from other Success Themes.

For example, here is one that prompts people to like your Facebook page.

And another one.

Or, like the actions for the Yes/No buttons, you can do these instead of using a theme.

Display Rules for Your Optin – When Should Your Campaign Appear

When I mentioned the true power behind this is the control you have, I shared with you a couple of examples in the settings. But as you can see, it can be extended much further.

After ‘X’ Seconds

Here is where you control when it will show up based on an action, which you may know as conditional logic. And you could add a second set of conditions, which you could get creative with.

On Exit-Intent

You have probably seen this happen. You leave the browser window and a popup appears. Here you will have three sensitivity settings. As explained in their documentation, if you use High sensitivity, the campaign appears when the mouse is farther away from the browser. It’s based on the number of pixels that the visitor is away from the top of the browser with their mouse. So Low is 1 pixel, medium 50 pixels and high would be 150 pixels before the campaign appears.

Cart Abandonment and Exit Intent – If you have an online store, you deal with cart abandonment. Also, it’s a fact that using certain technology, you can convert 2-4% of your email subscribers into paying customers. The Exit-Intent technology works perfect for this. You can use it for actions, such as inviting them to have a chat with your support. Invite them to join your email list or offer a limited discount on the spot to make them take action in purchasing. You can see some examples of Exit-Intent popups here.

I would suggest testing this as it has the potential for being repetitive if the user is scrolling the page, especially if it’s a long post.

After scrolling down ‘x’ amount

Speaking of scrolling, here is where you can set how far down a page someone scrolls before it pops up. In my opinion, this would work better for a slide-in popup compared to one that covers the screen. Also, I am thinking percent instead of pixel if you have this across many posts or pages on your site. The pixel might work better if it was a single landing page.

Again, you can add multiple conditions for this.

MonsterLink (On Click)

This is a very handy feature that allows you to take any text, image or button link and have your campaign appear by simply clicking it. It will generate a link for you.

Based on visitor’s date or time

Here is a unique option you may find some creative uses for. It’s based on the other rules and will show a campaign according to the date or time it passes. This could be useful in several situations perhaps time-sensitive or some other factor. I’ve added several conditions to show you all of the options.

Display Rules for Your Optin – Who Should See Your Campaign?

The other set of rules is based on your visitor, not their actions.

Visitors Browsing Specific Pages

Here you will get several options for your campaign to appear on specific pages or posts.

Visitor Has Viewed ‘X’ Pages

You can also time the campaign to appear after the visitor has checked out a specific number of pages on your site.

Visitor Has Interacted With a Campaign

Depending on what they have done with other campaigns you are running on your site, you could base it on which one they saw and how they interacted.

New Vs. Returning Visitors

This one is pretty straightforward.

Visitors From a Specific Physical Location

Another great way to make sure your optins are appearing for the right audience: for example, if you are selling something and cannot ship to a country or even a region or state.

You will want to validate any location by typing it in. For example, if I type in Texas:

Or France:

Visitors From a Specific Traffic Source

This one is pretty cool and one you could get very creative with. An example: let’s say you do a guest post on another blog. How about when they click through, a campaign pops up thanking them for coming from that guest post, and, by the way, here is 25% off your products.

Visitors With a Specific URL Parameter

If you understand what URL parameters are and how they work, you will find this useful. If you don’t, and want to learn more, I would recommend checking into it.

Visitors Who Are Using Adblock

This is something that is pretty much on or off. I’m not sure if people who use Adblock are expecting it to block all kinds of campaign types, but it’s an interesting option.

Visitors With a Specific Cookie

Like the parameters, this is another option that you might consider if you understand cookies and know what cookies may be on your visitors’ browsers. This might be an option if you are placing other cookies on their site and want to control the visibility of your campaign based on that.

Visitors With a Specific URL Anchor Tag

This is a bit more specific around Anchor tags and you will want an understanding of what they are or at least, take some time to learn more about them and how you can use this option.

Editing the Output Settings

Once you have created your optin, you will have want to activate it and set your output settings. There are three options for who should see this optin: you can set it by post categories and tags, post types and archives. Also, depending on the plugins I have installed, you will also see that I get the option for product categories and tags from WooCommerce. As far as refining who sees the optin based on other factors, as well as how the option is displayed based on actions, these can be refined in the display settings of the option, which I will go over later in this post.

OptinMonster Widget

OptinMonster also has its own widget you can insert a optin into any widget area on your theme.

A/B Split Testing in OptinMonster

Split testing is invaluable but often beginners find it difficult to set up. But OptinMonster makes split testing easy. By test, you can see if some colors, text headlines and button text changes work better than others. To set it up, simply go to a campaign, and click on Actions and A/B Split Test.

Next you will name the test and make any notes you want to refer to.

Now you will be taken to a replica of the optin you chose to add the test to and can make any of the changes that you want to apply. For example, here is the original optin.

And in the new test split I changed the button color and text.

Once you activate the split test, OptinMonster will randomly display both optins. You will be able to compare them with the stats on Visitors, Leads and Conversion Rate percentage.

Google Analytics and OptinMonster

OptinMonster easily integrates with Google Analytics to give you a quick glance at your conversion analytics and how your optins are performing. You can choose which optin and generate an authentication code to get on your way.

Sub-Accounts and Permissions

In the 4.0 release came a new feature where you are able to create sub-accounts and manage the permission of users. This will be very useful if you need employees, team members or even third-party consultants, VA’s or other support you might contract out. If you are using this for your clients as well, you could give them access.

Integrations with OptinMonster

The great thing is that OptinMonster works out-of-the-box with several marketing and email platforms.

And although we do focus on the WordPress platform here, there are several other blogging, site and eCommerce platforms that it works with.

Get Started by Increasing Your Lead Generation Today

As you can see, OptinMonster offers you many options to help you start building a solid list from your WordPress site. The key, as I mentioned, is to fine-tune your optins by both the design and being able to control who sees your campaigns and just when they should be seen. Those are the keys to a successful campaign. And with the analytics and split testing, you can find that sweet spot.

There are several price points, depending on your needs. So check out OptinMonster’s site to learn even more about it, view some examples, expand your knowledge by reading their blogs posts, and check into their extensive documentation. I can guarantee you will not be disappointed.

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